Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu using the same disk partition for storage

Question

I want to make a dual boot windows 7 x64 ultimate and ubuntu, no problem with that. What i don't know is can Windows and ubuntu "share" a partiton of a hard drive. To be clearer, i want to divide my HDD into 3 partitons, on one i want window, on the second i want ubuntu and i want the third to be my storage, kind of a backup. My problem... windows and ubuntu acces and use the third partition (the backup one), and if they can, in which format does it have to be? Thank you for the time you took to read this!

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

1

Yes, both can share the backup partition only if the filesystem is in NTFS or FAT32 (for portable drives and limited size) because windows doesn't have the capability to read anything else except NTFS and FAT32, but Ubuntu can handle all.

EDIT: As pointed out by Oli, ExFAT is also supported by both.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

1

answered Nov 14 '15 at 08:17

Raphael

8,035

Or exFAT. There's a great comparison of the three here. – Oli Nov 14 '15 at 08:21

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 14 '15 at 08:20

1

NTFS should work for both OSs out of the box, and if you install the driver on Windows, then ext4 would be an option.

PS: I don't think FAT32 is an option these days with its file size limit.

answered Nov 14 '15 at 08:20

mikewhatever

32,638

Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu using the same disk partition for storage

2 Answers2